Kirjahaku

Bertrand Russell: The Colours of Pacifism analyzes the tenacious commitment of one of the twentieth century’s most extraordinary intellectuals to the cause of civilization, progress, and human rights. Through his active and pragmatic pacifism, Russell sought to confront the problems stemming from the unstable and dramatic political conditions of his age: the beginning of the Great War, the establishment of the League of Nations, the rise of totalitarian regimes, the outbreak of the Second World War, the dawn of the Atomic Age, the escalation of the Cold War, the weakness of the United Nations, and the need for world government. His reflections on the subject of peace, which constitute the main focus of this book, led him into dialogue with some of the greatest figures of his time, including Romain Rolland, Albert Einstein, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Leon Trotsky, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Nikita Khrushchev, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Shining new light on a lifelong preoccupation in Russell’s work and thinking, this essay is a landmark study that will appeal to students, scholars, and anyone curious about the philosopher’s engagement with the world around him.

Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein had very different cultural backgrounds and personalities. At the same time, they were united in their tenacious battle for peace; it began with the Great War and culminated in their famous 1955 Manifesto. Through various kinds of pacifism they sought to encapsulate the dilemmas and problems that derived from the changed political conditions of his time: the beginning of the Great War, the creation and failure of the League of Nations, the affirmation of totalitarian regimes, the outbreak of the Second World War, the origin of the atomic age and the escalation of the Cold War, the establishment of the UN with its political and institutional weakness, and the need for a world government in the form of a world federation. Their reflections on the subject of peace led them into dialogue with some of the greatest figures of their time: R. Rolland, Th. Woodrow Wilson, V. I. Lenin, F. D. Roosevelt, J. F. Kennedy, N. Khrushchev, F. Castro, S. Freud, L. Szil rd and E. Reves. Claudio Giulio Anta earned a doctorate in History of Political Thought and Political Institutions from the University of Turin.